


Trust Issues

by DinosaursAreJjang



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Canon Related, Canon Universe, Drama, Feelings, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, LGBTQ Themes, Love, M/M, Post-Canon, Relationship(s), Romance, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-06 23:22:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8773513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DinosaursAreJjang/pseuds/DinosaursAreJjang
Summary: "When they found him locked up in a basement near his apartment, Percival Graves felt hope again for the first time in two weeks.When they told him what had happened in the past two weeks, all of it seemed lost again."A continuation from the movie plot in an effort to let Credence and Graves have the happiness they deserve.





	1. Hope

When they found him locked up in a basement near his apartment, Percival Graves felt hope again fort he first time in two weeks.  
When they told him what had happened in the past two weeks, all of it seemed lost again.  
Credence.  
Pure, innocent, poor Credence.

Graves had spent weeks trying to gain his trust in order to gather information about the No-Maj church that had been opposing witchcraft for a while. He had spent weeks talking to him, weeks healing the wounds his mother had inflicted on him. Weeks before he first found useful information, weeks before he had first felt a powerful source of magic near the boy. Weeks spent, before he had first seen a light smile on the boys face and he promised to take him away from his horrible home as soon as he’d get the chance to. Weeks, before he had sworn to himself that he’d protect him as Credence had grown to be someone very previous to Percival Graves.

Weeks that were wasted in the few days Grindelwald had disguised himself as him, Percival Graves, head of the aurors office and the only friend Credence had ever known. Wasted in the few hours in which Grindelwald had betrayed Credence, thrown him away, and eventually got him killed.  
All of this while wearing Graves face.  
Credence must have spent the last moments of his life asking himself why Graves betrayed him. Why he had trusted him. He must had hated him.  
Hate. Betrayal. 

Those were the last memories Credence ever had of him, Graves thought as he was laying on the bed in the medical department of the Macusa. After they rescued him, they waited a few days before the interrogation began. A few days of hope, before the President herself had told him the truth.  
He could have hated her for attacking Credence. Could have hated her for killing someone who had deserved so much better. He wanted to.

But he couldn’t. He knew, if he was in her situation, if he didn’t know Credence…he would have acted the same. He would have had to eliminate someone who was such a big threat to the entire wizarding community.  
And he knew it wasn’t her fault. It was his.

He should have protected his apartment better. Should have cast more protection spells. If he wasn’t so weak, Grindelwald could not have taken him prisoner. And all of this would have never happened. Grindelwald would have never gotten to Credence, would have never gotten Credence to trust him.  
Because the only one Credence ever trusted, was Percival Graves.


	2. 2

“You know, drowning in self pity isn’t going to change much”  
Graves sat up and looked over to the door of the bare room he was staying in. He hadn’t even heard the door opening, nor did he hear Tina stepping in. That’s how weak he was.  
“You’re not weak, Sir.” Tinas sister Queenie said quietly, stepping beside the woman in the doorframe and offering him a reassuring smile.  
He had heard of her being able to read thoughts, a marvelous talent. Right now, he wished she didn’t have this ability.  
“I can call myself useless instead, that works just as well” he answered in a quiet voice, rough from spending two weeks of screaming and yelling in an effort to be found. 

“I still remember when I was the Pessimist out of the both of us”, said Tina while smiling lightly at him, making an effort to lighten the mood. The smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. Graves sighed. He hadn’t forgotten how Tina was the one telling him about the church, how it was only through her efforts that he had started talking to Credence….she had known him as well, known that he wasn’t dangerous. She must be in pain too. 

“Sorry. I was tactless again. Anyways, what’s the matter? Seraphina must have send you here with a reason”, spoke Graves quietly.   
Queenie stepped back to make space as Tina nodded to her other side.  
“Your wand’s ready, time to get up. You can’t stay in here forever.”  
The other aurors had taken his wand from Grindelwald and kept it to go through every single spell he had casted the past few days in an effort to figure out if he had any other plans other than finding the obscuros. Graves wasn’t so sure he’d wanted it back. And he wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave the medical unit and return to his apartment where he had been attacked by Grindelwald either.

“You can stay with us for a while, if you want to” Queenie offered him a genuine smile. She had read his thoughts again, but this time, Graves was glad she did. He wouldn’t have dared to directly ask anyone for help. Weak as he was, he didn’t entirely use the pride he had before.  
He nodded, and stood up.   
“That would be very much appreciated, thank you. I just want my place to be cleaned of any traces of him before I go back, I won’t be a nuisance to you two for too long…”  
Tina smiled. “Don’t worry, Sir. If you end up being a nuisance you can easily compensate me with a raise.” Queenie laughed. “Come on, let’s get going.”

Tina took him to one of the other aurors office while Queenie disappeared for a bit to get her coat. Some paperwork afterwards , Graves held his wand again. He tested a few simple spells in the office, and they worked just fine. It felt weird holding the wand that such a dark wizard used, but he was glad it still worked like before.  
They caught up with Queenie in the entrance hall, and disapparated to their apartment as soon as they left the building.

The Goldstein sisters apartment was small, but cozy. Graves couldn’t help but feel welcomed as soon as he stepped in. It was warm, full of pictures and small decorations. “Make yourself at home, Mr.Graves” Queenie said before she went over to the dining room to prepare dinner. He curiously looked over the photographs. Most of them were of the two sisters together. Except for one.  
“Who’s this?” he asked Tina, who stood right beside him as he noticed a picture of the sisters with a tall man in the middle, wearing a blue coat and carrying a large suitcase.  
His eyes might were tricking him but Tina…seemed to blush?  
“That’s Newt Scamander he, uhm…he helped. The past days.”  
So that’s who he was. The person who almost had managed to return Credence back to himself.  
Almost.

Tina must have noticed the change in Graves’ expression, because she quickly changed the subject.  
“Let me show you your room, it’s right over there. I have to apologize, our guest room is quite small.”  
“No need to, I’m glad for your hospitality.”  
The guest room was indeed quite small, and had two beds in it. Graves set the few things he had accio’d over from his apartment, such as a few sets of clothes on the bed, then sat down on the other.   
“I’ll go help Queenie with the food. Feel free to rest for a bit, we’ll call you when dinner is ready” Tina said gently, before leaving the room.  
Leaving him alone with his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> angst, percival graves and more angst.  
> it's gonna get less angsty, i promise! :D


	3. 3

Dinner had been absolutely delicious, and Queenie had even prepared some hot coco mixed with a sleeping potion for him to drink before going to bed.  
Yet, Graves still lay awake for hours before exhaustion finally overtook him.  
In the morning, he made a decision.

Tina and Queenie had already gone to work, leaving him a note telling him to contact them if he needed anything.   
The Macusa didn’t expect him back at work in the next few weeks, the president had been very clear in her instructions for him to heal, and rest first.  
But he wouldn’t be able to heal just sitting around in his subordinates apartment, doing nothing.  
His heart felt heavy just thinking about it, but what he needed was to come to peace with what had happened.   
He would never be able to go back to his old life if he kept hiding the grief he felt, if he couldn’t draw a line where the horror had ended.  
He decided to go back to the church where he first saw credence, weeks ago.

When Graves apparated in an alley close to the church, he had to lean against the cold, dark walls first.  
Magic took a much bigger toll on him than it used to. His body was still weak, he thought, while staring at his shaking hands.  
If even apparating took so much energy, it might take more than a few weeks before he’d be able to get back to work.

After a few moments to gather himself, he stood up straight again and turned around the corner, setting his eyes on the small church he had seen so often in the weeks before Grindelwald took over.  
And he felt his breath hitch in his throat.   
The entire front of the church had been destroyed.  
When he stepped closer, he could see how it had been torn apart, as through giant claws ripped through the wood.   
This is what the obscuros had done…what Credence had done.  
The others had told him of the destruction, of the power that Credence had held within him.  
He hadn’t realized it would leave him speechless.

Graves stepped through what had once been the front door, through which he had seen Credence exit so often on his way to distribute flyers.   
He had always looked down, always rushing to get away from the church. And now he had left, forever.  
The inside was in pieces as well. The entire room had the scent of dark magic sticking to its walls, a nauseating, sweet scent.  
Graves had never been inside the church before. He never had seen where Credence lived.  
Never had gotten to rescue him from here.

“I’m so sorry…” he whispered. He came here to make peace with himself, but instead, he only thought of everything he should have done before Grindelwald attacked him. If he had only talked to Credence more, if he’d had gotten him out of here…he could have survived.  
He might could have been happy.

Just when Graves decided to turn around and leave, decided that this was pointless, a small fizzle of dark materia caught his eye. Floating in the air, like a piece of fabric.   
There was no wind.  
Cautionously , Mr Graves pulled out his wand, looking around the room. No one was here…  
Could it be the leftover energy of the horrible thing that had happened here that made the fabric move?  
On a closer look, whatever this was didn’t seem like fabric….more like smoke. Thick, black, smoke that was floating away, deeper inside the small church.

Graves carefully followed its path. His instincts never lied to him, as an Auror, he was trained to keep an eye on anything suspicious. And while this was extremely suspicious, as a matter of fact…Graves didn’t feel any danger.   
The black materia had disappeared behind a corner, but his eyes were drawn to something else.   
Something silver on the ground, seemingly out of place in this destroyed church. He picked it up, holding it against the light coming through the entrance of the room.  
It was a necklace, and the symbol that decorated it seemed strangely familiar.   
He’d seen it before, a long time ago, in a book. A children’s book.   
A children’s book that had nothing to do with the world of this church.  
So how the hell did it get here?

Graves placed the necklace with the Deathly Hollows symbol in his coat and turned towards the direction the black smoke disappeared in.  
There were only two wizards who had some sort of connection to this church, excluding himself. Tina Goldstein, and Grindelwald.   
Tina would not have left any trace of the wizarding world here.  
Did Grindelwald come here?   
If he did, the more important question would be…when?   
Grindelwald was locked up at the Macusa right now, as far as Graves knew. Or did he escape?

Graves fingers curled tightly around his wand and he slowly stepped towards the corner.  
If Grindelwald was here, he wouldn’t stand a chance. Just like last time.  
But something told him to not call the Macusa yet. Something was off.  
This area didn’t smell of dark magic. The atmosphere was different, and this time, Graves would have recognized Grindelwalds presence. The presence he now knew all too well.   
No, there was something different here. It couldn’t be Grindelwald.  
And if he was so weak to get defeated a second time by the same dark wizard….he deserved it.

Carefully, with his back against the cold stone wall, Graves looked around the corner.  
There was a room, but he couldn’t see….it was filled with black smoke. Black, thick smoke, that moved on its own as if it had its own life, its own will.  
And quiet sobs filled the silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yet another short chapter, but somehow university keeps me from sitting down and taking time to write as much as i'd like to.  
> thanks to all those who left kudos and the comments. i hope you like this story ^-^


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to everyone for reading and especially thanks to those of you who commented ^-^  
> i love reading your comments :D  
> i'm sorry it's such a short chapter again, these days i've been kinda busy and didn't get to write much.   
> Merry (belated) christmas to everyone :D
> 
> Things written in cursive are thoughts of the characters

A boy with dark hair was curled up against the wall, his small frame shaking slightly.   
His clothing was torn apart partially, and wounds that looked like they haven’t been able to heal yet were visible underneath.   
Percival Graves felt the breath hitch in his throat.   
Credence.

But that couldn’t be him…Credence was dead, Macusa had told him.  
He died because Graves had failed to save him. His own aurors had killed him.   
He couldn’t possibly be alive…be here.   
“Credence?” Graves called out quietly, his voice shaking. He must have gone insane.   
He already knew he wasn’t as strong as he previously thought himself to be, maybe his mind was just as weak and had crumbled under days of torture.   
The boy didn’t answer. Of course he didn’t.   
  
Graves was seeing ghosts. Ghosts of his wishful thinking, ghost that reminded him of the hope he had, of the hope that had died along with the one person he desperately had wanted to protect.  
Even so, Graves still had to make sure he was simply hallucinating.  
He was still an Auror, and he could not just leave without making sure what was actually happening.   
Slowly, he crouched down and moved closer to the figure in front of him.   
The boy didn’t seem to notice him, only further firming Graves belief that he was hallucinating.  
Carefully, Graves reached out and placed his hand on the boys arm.   
“Credence?”

Percival only had a mere second to process that he was touching the boy, the boy was REAL.  
Then, Credence moved back against the wall so quickly that Graves mind barely registered what was happening.  
His eyes were widened in fear as he stared at Mr.Graves. “Not you-No”  
His hands flew to his face, covering his eyes as if the man in front of him was all but a nightmare.   
Dark smoke started to surround him, and he began to shake again, his quiet sobs turning louder.

Graves heart was beating loudly in his chest.   
Credence was alive- and scared of him.  
Of course he was, when his last memories of Graves were Graves betraying him, Graves not being able to rescue him.  
Graves attacking the British wizard who had wanted to help Credence.  
  
“Credence please…” he whispered.   
He didn’t have a plan.   
Grave always used to be a man of plans, never acting without having everything thought through first.  
Yet all he was thinking right now, was that he needed to get Credence somewhere safe.  
Those wounds…those wounds that his aurors had caused, they needed to be healed. Who knows how much blood the boy had already lost?

Even more carefully than before, he tried to get closer to Credence again.  
“I know you’re scared. I- the last times you saw me , that wasn’t me Credence…” he said slowly, trying his best to calm him down even though his voice was shaking too. The smoke thickened, almost blocking Credence from his sight.  
“Liar….you’re a liar….you betrayed me” the boy sobbed. 

The smoke burned his fingers as soon as he got close enough to touch it.

“Shit…..Credence, please, listen to me….” Graves calmly tried to explain what had happened, explained who Grindelwald was and what he had done.  
“It wasn’t me...” The smoke turned thinner, allowing Graves to look at him again.   
Credence was watching him cautionously, a faint glint of hope visible in his eyes.   
Tears were still running down his cheeks, but he had turned quiet.

“Listen Credence …you don’t have to trust me, I understand if you hate me” _It was my fault. My fault you got hurt._

Graves took a deep breath and inched closer again. The smoke still hurt him, but he could endure it.  
He needed to get to Credence, needed to save him this time.  
“I need to take you somewhere safe, ok? To someone who can help…we need to heal those wounds. Do you remember Tina? I know she protected you from your mother once, the witch with the dark brown hair?” Credence nodded lightly.   
_Now!_  
And Graves took this opportunity to grab onto the boys arm, pulling what he had left of magical energy together to disapparate with Credence by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> so i just started writing this since i can't stop thinking about those two, and what could have happened, or what might will happen. First chapter's a bit short, they'll get longer soon!  
> if you find spelling or grammar mistakes, please feel free to point them out to me :D  
> i'm not a native English speaker but i'd like to improve my writing since i haven't written anything other than university essays in years.  
> Thanks for reading ^-^


End file.
